In the grand scheme of things, for my generation, climbing gear has always been rad. Cams have always been around, the Gri-Gri has been a staple, and ropes have been lightweight and performed at a high level. Many breakthroughs occurred before we started climbing, and we reap the benefits. The products I end up embracing…
The Patagonia story: responsibly trying to reach sustainability by Luke Mehall “Most people under forty don’t watch the ads placed on TV…they fast forward through the boring bits when they watch the show after airtime on a laptop. They get their news from Jon Stewart and then twitter it to their friends. And they have…
Samson is back at it again, with his top favorite 5 products from the Winter 2014 Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. The winter show is always second fiddle to the summer show in terms of new climbing products, so we had to dig a little deeper, and even selected one product that has a skiing focus,…
How did two guys from Great Britain, a place that doesn’t really have off-widths, go over and climb the hardest off-widths in the United States? The film Wide Boyz, delivers the answer, while analyzing the psyche of the two climbers, Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, and providing a whole bunch of inspiration along the way.…
I woke up freezing in Penitente Canyon. It was Easter Sunday. This was back when my philosophy toward camping equipment was in its experimental stages, but I guess equipping for the great outdoors always is. [story by Luke Mehall, author of Climbing Out of Bed] My assumption was that two average sleeping bags would equal…
El Portrero Chico in Hidalgo, Mexico, is where we go to rock climb. It was New Year’s Eve, and we were there to escape the Colorado cold. The limestone walls soar into the heavens; tilt your head back to see vertical walls full of vegetation, walls where even palm trees grow out of the rock. We…
My favorite thing about climbing is that if you try hard enough you can always be a champion. It doesn’t matter if you are the best, it matters how it feels. [story by Luke Mehall] The Birthday Challenge is a concept passed from climber-to-climber, and I was first introduced to it by my good friend…
Reluctantly, this past summer, I returned to the world of washing dishes in Crested Butte, Colorado. I thought I’d retired after a solid fifteen years in the profession, one that was my first job, carried me through college and some experimental years after college, when all I wanted to do was rock climb and live…